AFFTON • The visiting Trinity soccer team used a quick start and a second-half penalty kick to knock off Lutheran South 3-1 Wednesday night in Class 2 soccer sectional action.
The Titans, ranked fifth among STLhighschoolsports.com small schools, improved to 19-6 with their 12th consecutive victory. They will play Sikeston (20-4) in the quarterfinals at 1 p.m. Saturday at Trinity.
Lutheran South finished 16-9-2.
Aaron Jezik got Trinity going Wednesday with a pair of first-half goals. He opened the scoring less than six minutes into the match, converting a long-range throw from Mike Hardin.
With his back to goal, Jezik managed to volley the ball over his head for the 1-0 lead.
“I lost the ball in the lights and had to bring it down with my chest,’’ Jezik said. “I knew exactly where I was on the field, and I knew the goalie had come off his line to make the play. I just lifted it over him and into the goal.’’
“In any game, but especially in a playoff game, that first goal is so important," he said. "At the start of a game like this, everybody’s a little jumpy. But once you get the early lead like that, you can settle down and hopefully start to play your game.’’
Jezik, the Titans’ leading scorer, picked up his 25th goal of the season later in the half. Following a string of six or seven Trinity passes, Jezik broke down the middle on a set-up from Mark Skrivan and scored from about 18 yards out with a low blast to the left corner.
“We did a nice job of moving the ball and Aaron finished it,’’ Trinity coach Vince Drake said.
Just seconds after Trinity’s Eric Modde tested South keeper Jacob Dickman on a long-range free kick, the Lancers got back in the game with a pretty counter-attack goal.
Racing down the left side, South’s Parker VanNest delivered a cross-field pass to Zach Jones, who dribbled to the penalty area and scored to cut the halftime margin to 2-1.
The Lancers carried that momentum into the second half and were pressuring the Titans when Trinity picked up a key insurance goal.
On another long throw from Hardin, the ball deflected off the arm of a South defender. Trinity’s Tom Koerper converted the penalty kick with 25:06 to play, bumping the Titan lead to 3-1.
“South was coming at us pretty good to that point,’’ Drake said. “But that goal gave us a little breathing room.’’
Hardin delivered two key long throws despite having a hand encased in a cast and then heavily wrapped for further protection.
“The cast is supposed to come off Friday,’’ Drake said. “His fingers are getting stronger, and he’s using something that allowed him to grip the ball better. That long throw has really been a key weapon for us this season.’’
South continued to come at the Titans. Off a corner with 23½ minutes to play, the Lancers’ Lucas Schuler had a shot go wide by the far post. Later, a free kick from Alex Platipodis was redirected nicely by South’s Nick Bohlmann, but Trinity keeper Jeremiah Cooper was there to make the stop.
“Really the only thing we knew about these guys was that they play in a good conference and that they’d played Priory tough,’’ Jezik said of South. “They played us tough, but I felt like we played a strong game, too.’’
